Now that we have come to the end of our second semester, it is time for an update of our activities.

In January/February our assistant-director Marleen De Meyer again guided a group of 8 Egyptology students from KU Leuven and Leiden University on a study tour through Egypt (see our previous newsletter). Evaluations of this “Egyptology in the Field” program were all very positive. 

By the end of February, we started our regular semester in Arabic/Islam Studies and Middle East Studies. This time, we had 47 students in our BA and MA programs. All went smoothly and the vast majority of them passed their final semester exams last week. We said goodbye to them with a home cooked lunch (by our chef Khaled and his crew) in the garden of the institute on Thursday 8 June. The evaluations of this semester are also very positive.

Early in this semester, the shaft for the lift (against the northern wall of the building) was completed. We now await delivery of the Schindler lift from Slovenia, which will then be assembled on the spot and installed. Hopefully, this will take place in the months July/August. 

During this semester we also ran our programs of lectures (on Thursdays) and films (on Sundays). We were happy to see many of our regular visitors have found their way back to the institute after the COVID interruption of previous years.   

Also during these months, we have taken care of applications for the various projects (mainly in archaeology and Egyptology) which we facilitate.  In addition, we have assisted Prof. Olaf Kaper and his team in preparing for the upcoming International Congress of Egyptologists to be held in Leiden in the month of August, taking care of Arabic translations and helping out with the logistics of Egyptian scholars participating in the conference.  

We are looking forward to another very busy semester in Autumn, when we have again almost 70 applications from students from our partner universities in the Netherlands and Flanders.  

I wish all of you a happy Eid al-Adha and a relaxing summer! 

Rudolf de Jong, Director of the NVIC